


NINETEEN

by mangogoblin



Series: TDA College AU [1]
Category: The Dark Artifices Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Bisexual Cristina, F/F, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-09 13:34:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11105604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mangogoblin/pseuds/mangogoblin
Summary: Jaime is very tired of hearing about Blonde Emma every day





	NINETEEN

“Cristina!” Jaime yelled her name in Cristina’s ear, pulling her back to earth again. She had been drifting off again. Daydreaming. It was out of character for her, usually so well grounded. “Are you okay?” He asked.

“What?” She said dizzily, “I’m sorry, could you say that again? I wasn’t really paying attention…”

“Well that’s obvious,” he muttered under his breath. “I was just asking if you’re okay. You seem a little spacey today, that’s weird for you.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she smiled at him to demonstrate. “Just thinking. Not about anything in particular.” She added quickly, seeing the inquisitive look that he shot her.

That wasn’t technically a lie. She wasn’t thinking about anything in particular, it was more that she was thinking about someone in particular. Cristina had always considered herself to be decent at keeping secrets, but unfortunately Jaime knew her well enough to detect the change in her expression.

“You absolute liar,” he pointed a finger at her accusingly, “tell me right now or we’re no longer friends.”

“Okay, okay!” She said, praying that he would lower his voice. The café was mostly empty, but there were still people sitting around, and Cristina had seen one or two familiar faces from class. “So there’s this girl… shut up, Jaime!” He had the stupid look on his face that he always got when he was being told a secret, ever since they were children and the secret had been that Luz ate a mosquito at the lake because his brother had said that he’d give her a quarter if she did it.

“I didn’t say anything!”

“You know what you’re doing!” Cristina valiantly resisted the urge to smack him with a dishcloth. “Stop it, or I’m not telling you anything!”

“Alright, alright,” with considerable effort, he managed to school his features into an arrangement that was almost comically serious. “Look, I’m not doing it any more! Tell me!”

“No, you’ve lost your window. Hey, isn’t that the girl from your philosophy class that you talked about nonstop last semester?” She said, trying to redirect his attention. It wasn’t as if she was lying; the pretty brunette had just entered with a gaggle of her friends. Jaime gave her a look that made it clear that he wasn’t going to just let this go, and waltzed over to the group of pretty girls with a prince charmingesque smile plastered on his face.

-

“Come on Cristina, tell me,” he asked her again, later that night as she was accompanying him back to his dorm. Jaime was still a freshman, so unlike Cristina, who was a sophomore, he was still required to live on-campus. “I’m your best friend, you have to tell me.”

“Mark is my best friend now,” Cristina disagreed.

“Why? What does he have that I don’t?” Jaime feigned jealousy.

“Rose’s boyfriend.” She replied, patting his arm apologetically. “Sorry dude. You know I love you, but my dog loves his dog, and we’re good parents. Gotta give the kids a chance.”

“I thought your dogs were already married?” That was kind of true. Last winter, Mark had managed to rope her into having a wedding for his Rottweiler Igor and her mutt Rose. He still defended the decision despite the fact that it had been a drunken one made at two in the morning due to the adrenaline of finishing their last midterm. Cristina definitely agreed with his reasoning that it had been adorable, though.

“They were separated for a while when they found out the marriage wasn’t legally binding, but things are good between them again,” she shrugged. “Mark and I are just glad that they were able to work it out without any lawyers. We think that it was very mature of them.”

“Good,” Jaime said. “I’m glad that they worked it out, that gives you more time to focus on your relationship status. By the way, while we’re on that topic-”

“Fine! You freaking pest!” Cristina interrupted him.

“Freaking? Why don’t you just say fuck-” she hit him on the shoulder with her bag. “Ow, okay, fine! You were saying?”

“I was saying,” a sort of dreamy look came into her eyes Oh no, Jaime thought. Not this again. “Her name’s Emma. At least, that’s the name she gives me. God, Jaime, she’s just so pretty. I don’t know what to do with myself in front of her, it’s dumb, isn’t it? Tell me I’m being dumb.”

“I think that if I told you that,” he said carefully, “you would hit me with your bag again.” Cristina nodded in agreement.

“That’s fair,” she said, “but you always seem to be a real hit with girls, right? Tell me what I should do!”

“Just do something to let her know you’re interested,” he suggested, “you know, smile at her, flirt a little. That sort of thing.”

“That’s the worst advice that I’ve heard in my life. I smile at practically everyone, how is on earth is that supposed to let her know that I’m interested?”

“There is one other thing. You could give her your number.”

“Oh my god, Jaime, I don’t even know whether or not she’s straight yet!” Jaime just shrugged.

“Simple. If she’s straight, she won’t call, and you can move on.”

“I still don’t want to do it.”

“Then I’ll do it for you.”

“Jaime, no.” 

“Yes!” He replied with too much glee, “this is what friends are for, Cristina. This is what our entire friendship has been leading up to!” They came to a stop in front of his building. “Now I am going to leave you alone before you can protest. Call me when you get home, okay?”

“Fine,” she sighed, knowing better than to try and reason with him.

-

It wasn’t until the next day that Jaime realized that Cristina hadn’t actually given him a description of Emma. Rather than simply asking her what Emma looked like, he had decided to stage whisper to Cristina “Is that her?” every time a girl walked into the café.

“Is she one of those girls?” He pointed at a slim girl with dark brown skin. “Is that her?”

“No, Jaime. I told you after you pointed out that old lady, she’s got blonde hair.”

“You didn’t specify what type of blonde. She could be dark blonde. Very, very dark blonde.” She hit his leg with the dishcloth that she was using.

“Shut up, loser,” she had intended to mock her friend further but was halted by Emma walking through the door.

Jaime leaned in close and whispered into Cristina’s ear, “is that her?” It was not at all subtle, but Cristina was too captivated to even consider telling him to fuck off. She gave him a little nod that she hoped wouldn’t be noticeable to anyone else, and turned her attention back to her job.

“Hey Cristina,” Emma said, approaching the counter and flashing Cristina her smile. Unlike her ex Diego, she had crooked teeth, an imperfection that only made her more endearing.

“Hey,” she smiled back weakly, “the usual, I’m guessing?”

“Yeah,” Emma laughed nervously, “but I actually came here to ask you something else, too. Is this a good time?”

“I don’t know-”

“I’ll cover for you.” Jaime, who had been eavesdropping, interrupted Cristina before she could finish her sentence, and gave her a thumbs-up.

“It won’t take long,” Emma assured her. “I was just wondering if you’re free on Saturday night?”

“I am, how come?” Cristina could feel herself beginning to blush, and hoped that she was interpreting this correctly. God, this was awkward.

“I wanted to take you out on a date,” Emma said. She was blushing too now, “you know, to see a movie or something.”

“Oh!” Cristina perked up at that. “Of course! I’d love to do that!” She took the pen from the register and wrote down her cell on a napkin. “Here’s my number!”

“I should probably let you get back to work now,” Emma said, taking the napkin from Cristina’s outstretched hand. The blush was spreading. “I’ll text you later?”

“Sounds great!” Cristina chirped. Emma left, and Cristina turned around to see Jaime ignoring his duty, preferring to wait to find out how the conversation had gone. “I think that we’re going to see a movie Saturday.” She told him.

“Nice. Do you need a chaperone?”

“Aren’t you younger than me? Get back to work, you big baby.”

**Author's Note:**

> The ending to this is a little abrupt, but mostly because this is only meant to be background for one of the couples in the main project of this series and I didn't want to get too into it. Constructive criticism is more than welcome


End file.
